Purely subjective.

I play keyboards (badly), trumpet (even worse), and guitar (a bit; only a bit) so I know what a lousy performance sounds like. Like Taylor Swift would say, "It's me. I'm the one."
All kidding aside, it's totally subjective. Example: I've never cared for Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. A friend of mine who majored in music education loved Ormandy because of the precision. He could hear and would point out mistakes by other orchestras, particularly Bernstein and the NYP. I preferred Bernstein because his interpretations sounded much livelier than anything by Ormandy, particularly after Ormandy left Columbia and signed on with RCA. And really, I like George Szell better than either Bernstein or Ormandy.
Another example: Beethoven's 9th. IMO, too many conductors use too slow of a tempo for the adagio. Szell uses a faster tempo, but my favorite (what I consider best) performance of the 9th is by Christoph von Dohnányi and the Cleveland Orchestra on Telarc CD.
Maybe this is all just blather. Hell, it IS all blather. But it's what I mean by good performance/great performance, etc.

The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Acronyms, acronyms...HvK/VPO - ghost of olddude55 06:51:21 01/07/23 (22)

What About This One? - tubav 10:06:18 01/07/23 (17)

That one is especially good, particularly the brass. nt. - MWE 08:13:36 01/12/23 (0)

RE: What About This One? - ecl876 10:57:37 01/07/23 (14)

The only trouble with that Mehta/LAPO recording. . . - Chris from Lafayette 12:25:32 01/07/23 (11)

RE: The only trouble with that Mehta/LAPO recording. . . - Analog Scott 05:59:20 01/11/23 (1)

RE: The only trouble with that Mehta/LAPO recording. . . - ecl876 12:14:23 01/11/23 (0)

RE: The only trouble with that Mehta/LAPO recording. . . - ecl876 12:49:56 01/07/23 (8)

"a matter of opinion and differs in importance depending on the person listening" - Chris from Lafayette 15:28:52 01/07/23 (7)

The HvK/VPO/London/Decca stuff doesn't have the best sound. - ghost of olddude55 16:22:37 01/07/23 (6)

I'll listen again, but I've always felt that those Karajan/VPO recordings. . . - Chris from Lafayette 02:02:57 01/08/23 (3)

Very good but not the best. - ghost of olddude55 03:58:38 01/08/23 (2)

RE: Very good but not the best - desertorganist 13:43:21 01/10/23 (1)

Managed to find most of them. They're outstanding recordings. - ghost of olddude55 15:02:23 01/13/23 (0)

RE: The HvK/VPO/London/Decca stuff doesn't have the best sound. - ecl876 17:00:52 01/07/23 (1)

Purely subjective. - ghost of olddude55 04:12:23 01/08/23 (0)

RE: What About This One? - tubav 11:14:46 01/07/23 (1)

RE: What About This One? - ecl876 11:40:58 01/07/23 (0)

I've seen it at my local shop... - ghost of olddude55 10:18:25 01/07/23 (0)

RE: Acronyms, acronyms...HvK/VPO - ecl876 07:36:52 01/07/23 (3)

Another HvK/VPO arrived in the mail today... - ghost of olddude55 08:01:18 01/07/23 (2)

Minor Correction Ghost... - Sibelius 09:30:53 01/07/23 (1)

Well... - ghost of olddude55 09:36:16 01/07/23 (0)

Follow Ups

Purely subjective. - ghost of olddude55 04:12:23 01/08/23 (0)

Purely subjective.

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